Raynor Park in Sunnyvale (Winter):
Let’s Find Birds… and DINOSAURS!!
BY GINGER LANGDON-LASSAGNE
Getting young kids excited about birding is easy, when you can show the link between normal playground/park birds and their ancient dinosaur cousins! This neighborhood park in the heart of Sunnyvale’s suburbia has everything to recommend it for a family outing to explore birding with the youngest. Just over a mile of flat, stroller-friendly sidewalks, adjacent farm fields & orchard, and two dinosaur-themed playgrounds make this destination a winner for those with people under age ten in their care.
A gentle stroll of ½ mile on mostly shady, broad sidewalks inside the park leads to wide variety of food sources for common suburban birds. Easy viewing of berry bushes and leaf-litter makes this an excellent park for beginners to birding. Optional extension for another ½ mile of walking on well-maintained public sidewalks to view the farm fields and open skies, making a loop back to the parking area, past a line of mature pines and sports fields.
This park is fun year-round, but winter and early spring are the best for birding this park, because many birds spend the colder months here in this area, but they migrate away in summer.
Trip Covers: Nov - Feb
Key Birds: Mourning Dove, Killdeer, Red-tailed Hawk, Black Phoebe, American Crow
An American crow examines the lawn in search of tasty grubs. Is this a Dinosaur? Photo by Ginger Langdon-Lassagne
Restrooms are wheelchair accessible, family-friendly, gender neutral, clean and open from 6am to 9pm. Many picnic tables, benches, BBQ pits and trash cans are decorated with secret dinosaur art, making a treasure hunt for both the young, and the young-at-heart.
How to Bird
Starting from the parking area on Quail Avenue, you will immediately notice two enormous, spiky trees. This type of tree is essentially unchanged since the time when dinosaurs roamed the earth! Imagine an Apatosaurus, wandering across the baseball diamond to munch on the fresh green tops! If you arrive at the park in the early morning or late afternoon, listen for the tiny dinosaur relatives that shelter overnight in these tree’s protective spikes. House Sparrows, House Finches, and many other birds find these Araucaria bidwillii to be a useful home!
Araucaria bidwillii, the False Monkeypuzzle Tree. Home to many roosting birds, every night! Photo by Ginger Langdon-Lassagne
Playgrounds! It’s not usually possible to pass by an attractive set of play equipment when one is accompanied by little people. Don’t fight it—embrace it! Let them run some of their energy off, and when they’re a bit tired out, they’ll have an easier time of being quiet and “sneaky” when approaching the birds. There are two play areas: one fenced and gated for the under-5 set, and another with bigger slides and swings for those age 5-12.
Playground for the under-five kids
Playground for the 5-12 age range
Just beyond the playground area is a line of puzzle-bark elm trees. These elms attract Lesser Goldfinches in the spring and fall with flowers and seeds; in the winter, Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers are often found hunting for insects among their branches. Townsend’s and Orange-crowned Warblers are also infrequent visitors here.
Puzzle-bark elm trees which might hold warblers or a kinglet in the winter. Photo by Ginger Langdon-Lassagne
Follow the path that curves around to the left of the lawn area. There is nearly always a good view of a Black Phoebe here. Even the youngest birder, not yet ready for binoculars, can enjoy the hunting, swooping antics of this boldly marked, very common flycatcher, as it acrobatically grabs flying insects out of the air.
Black Phoebe, photo by Barry Langdon-Lassagne
Age-appropriate binoculars for kids under age 7 can be made at home, with very limited materials that you probably already have on hand. Before you go to the park, check out this video from 2020’s Wildlife and Harvest Day, for making Paper Tube Binoculars.
Mourning Dove, photo by Ginger Langdon-Lassagne
As you walk along the path, use your ears to find other birds. You may hear the super-high-pitched whistles of Cedar Waxwings in the treetops, the descending “Tiwww” of a Western Bluebird, or the minor-key “hooo-hooo-hooooooooo” of the Mourning Dove. Mourning doves have protective coloration that helps them hide in the leaf-strewn dirt at the edge of the neighborhood fencing. See if you can find one hiding on the ground.
In the picnic areas, American Crows can often be observed at very close range, as they search for leftovers from human snacks. Imagine for a moment that you are that close to a dinosaur… because truly, you ARE! Look at the details of its feet and beak. Examine its eye and its behavior. These are intelligent creatures, capable of reasoning and problem-solving. Is this crow aware you are watching?
American Crow, photo by Barry Langdon-Lassagne
Did you find the shy little Sauropod, hidden under the branches of the cedar tree? That’s your clue to look for sparrows in the sunlit grass, next to the basketball courts. White-crowned and Golden-Crowned Sparrows are both commonly seen feeding on seeds in the lawn, here.
Friendly little sauropod for climbing on. Photo by Ginger Langdon-Lassagne
Winding along the paths, further into the park, you will find another shady lawn area across from the parking lot of the Stratford School. The trees here provide a wide variety of shelter and food sources for birds. Look for American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and Northern Mockingbirds feeding in the berry-laden bushes that line the fence to the south. Doesn’t this Northern Mockingbird remind one a bit of a Velociraptor?
Northern Mockingbird, photo by Ginger Langdon-Lassagne
The Red Eucalyptus tree in the center of the lawn bursts into fragrant hot-PINK! blossoms in late winter, when not much else is blooming. This tree attracts many hummingbirds, both the commonly seen Anna’s, and during the February and early March migration times, Allen’s and Rufous hummingbirds as well.
Rufous Hummingbird, photo by Barry Langdon-Lassagne
Finally, along the sidewalk along the western edge of the park, check the row of Sweet Gum trees for Lesser Goldfinches, American Goldfinches, and Pine Siskins. These birds all love to eat the seeds inside the pokey-ball casings that kids love to throw at each other.
American Goldfinch, photo by Barry Langdon-Lassagne
If your young companions are tired, then circle back to the playground, for one last pat on each dinosaur’s head before cruising home.
Alternately, continue on along the sidewalk in front of Stratford School to the corner of Partridge and Dunford Avenues. Three redwood trees here at the intersection have dead, bare top branches; these are favored perches for the local Red-tailed Hawk. (The school’s security guard tells me he sees this hawk every single day on his patrols.) If the hawk is not perched, perhaps it is soaring high above? Turkey vultures also soar in this area. Watch for the angle formed by their wings to tell the difference, when the distance is great. Hawks hold their wings mostly flat, while Turkey Vultures angle their wings upwards in what is known as a dihedral angle.
Red-tailed Hawk, photo by Barry Langdon-Lassagne
Across the street, look in the farm fields for flocks of Killdeer during winter. They’re very tough to spot, but their call (kill-DEEER!) often gives them away. These are our most common plover, and the only shorebird you’re likely to encounter in the suburbs regularly. Flocks of European Starlings may be raiding the orchards, or Common Ravens may be calling as they wing across the sky. Can you find the farm’s plastic owl? It is there to scare away squirrels!
“Look! There’s a Killdeer! Wait… there are three… or five…” Can you find all nine in this picture? Photo by Barry Langdon-Lassagne
Santa Clara Unified School District Farm, providing fresh fruits and vegetables for the students and the community: Produce stand, Volunteering, and Educational Opportunities. Photo by Ginger Langdon-Lassagne
Time to wrap up a marvelous day of birding! At the intersection of Dunford and Quail Avenues, walk back up the sidewalk to the parking lot where we started. Keep an eye out for Chestnut-backed Chickadee and Bewick’s Wren in the pines as you walk past. All of the sparrows and finches mentioned earlier enjoy the low bushes near the parking lot, as well. Be sure to listen for the cacophony of the house sparrows in the “Dinosaur Trees” at the parking area!
Ready for More? This is only one park in the necklace of jewels that are Sunnyvale’s neighborhood parks. Be sure to check out all of them, if you have kids who enjoy playgrounds and nature! Nearly every park has a resident family of hawks in the summertime!
Interactive Map
Location: 1565 Quail Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94087. Longitude Latitude: 37.343062, -122.005604
Parking: ADA Compliant parking in dedicated lot for this park. Street parking available if the lot is full (rarely, only during little league games).
Fees: None
Public Transportation: VTA bus 22 & express 522 have frequent stops, just over ½ mile away from this park at El Camino & Halford Ave. Less frequent bus lines are the 56 bus on Homestead Road, and the 53 bus on Wolfe Road.
Park Hours: Park open 6am to 9pm. Restrooms open these hours.
Facilities: Wheelchair accessible bathroom, drinking fountain, trash cans, BBQ pits, picnic tables and playgrounds. Decent cell phone service for all carriers.
Trip Mileage: one half mile out & another half mile back, or a full mile loop.
Trail Conditions: Flat, paved, wheelchair and stroller accessible paths & sidewalks throughout. Many benches and picnic tables suitable for resting, snacking, or nursing a baby. Flush toilets, sinks for hand-washing, and soap provided in restroom.
Accessibility: 100% wheelchair accessible, though some trails are paved with slightly bumpy aggregate. Excellent parking for wheelchair vans in main parking area. One small area of rougher terrain on a damaged sidewalk where a tree came down, near the Stratford School, manageable by most wheelchairs with a bit of effort.
Bikes: Bikes are allowed but not recommended for this trip.
Dogs: Dogs allowed on 6’ leash. No dogs allowed on sports field during weekday school hours, due to Stratford School’s lease for physical education use. Be advised, early evenings at this park, particularly in summer, some dog owners from the neighborhood ignore the leash rules and run their dogs freely on the large sports field.
More Information
All About Birds: Lesser Goldfinch, Killdeer and Bewick’s Wren
eBird hotspot: Raynor Park
Birding Basics with SCVAS Education & Outreach Specialist Carolyn Knight: Columbidae (Doves and Pigeons)
More Resources
For more trips like this one, visit Self-Guided Field Trips.
Visit the SCVAS Birding Resources page for more information on where to bird, our birding community, bird identification resources and more.
Read “What to Look for Now” by SCVAS Executive Director Matthew Dodder.
Banner Photo Credit: American Robin by Hita Bambhania-Modha
Last Updated: 05/22/2022
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